1
People, Places, and
Environments:
Introducing Human
Geography
Starting Points
2
Science, Social Science, Geography
•What do we mean when we say
something is a science?
•What do we mean when we say
something is a social science?
•Just what is Geography?
3
Science
Sci"ence (?), n. [F., fr. L. scientia, fr. sciens, p.pr. of
scire “to know.” Cf. Conscience, Conscious.]
Science means knowledge —
but knowledge comes from many valid sources —
Experience
Experiment
Faith
Authority
For 400 years, the word science has meant knowledge
acquired using a process we call the scientific method.
4
The Scientific Method
What characteristics should knowledge acquired by the
Scientific Method have?
Science should be:
• Rational — based on reasoning, logic.
• Objective — free from bias, prejudice.
• Systematic — thorough, methodical, organized.
• Predictive — testable (“repeatable”).
But science should not be:
• Dogmatic — science should be open to new ideas.
• Ideological — science should not be based on beliefs or opinions.
• Trivial — science should not be a pointless accumulation of facts.
5
Steps to Science
1
2
3
4
5
6
6
The Crucial Step: Testing
If you don’t make
testable predictions
it’s not
science!
7
An Example: Science & Not-Science
What Killed The Dinosaurs?
NOT SCIENCE
•Male alligators can’t breed if
temperatures get too high
\ Climate change killed
the dinosaurs.
•Flowering plants dominate
just as dinosaurs disappear
\ Chemicals found in
flowering plants
killed the dinosaurs
SCIENCE
•The rare element iridium
is found at the boundary
between the era when
dinosaurs dominate and
when they disappear.
\ Whatever increased
iridium levels
killed off the
dinosaurs.
Based on SJ Gould’s “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs.” In The
Flamingo’s Smile (1985)
8
Is Science Always Right?
NO!
Science is done by people —
and people are only human!
• Sometimes people make mistakes
• Sometimes people are reluctant to change
• Sometimes people lie
• Sometimes people don’t want a “scientific”
answer!
9
Science & Social Science
• Science is a way of getting
knowledge using the scientific
method.
• A social science is a field of study
that uses the scientific method to
look at the social and cultural
environment.
10
Geography
• Is Geography a social science?
• Yes! And No! And Sometimes!
• Geography is a unique discipline
• Geography connects other disciplines
• Geography emphasizes space
• BUT — Geography isn’t always easy to
define!
11
Realms of Geography
12
Development of Geography
The Çatalhöyük
map (6,200 BCE)
For more information see:
http://www.atamanhotel.com/catalhoyuk/oldest-map.html
A “T-and-O” map
(1472 CE)
13
What is Geography?
“Geography is the study of of where things are located
on Earth’s surface and the reasons for the location.”
(Rubenstein 2008, xv)
“…the scientific study of the location of people and
activities across Earth, and the reasons for their
distribution.” (Rubenstein 2008, 2)
What do Geographers think about?
•Place – location.
•Regions – unique and distinctive areas.
•Scale – similarities at local, regional and global levels.
•Space – mapping regular patterns.
•Connections – relationships among places.
14
PLACE: Location
• What features make places unique
and distinctive? Where are places
located?
• Important Concepts in location:
• Place Names (“toponyms”)
• Site (physical [“fixed”] location)
• Situation (relative location)
• Mathematical location (coordinates)
15
PLACE: Location –
Site & Situation
Site: San Francisco
Situation: San Francisco
1769
• In the Western Hemisphere
• In the Midlatitudes
• On the West Coast of
North America
• Mediterranean climate
(but foggy!)
• Peninsula and superb harbor
Today
• In the Western Hemisphere
• In the Midlatitudes
• On the West Coast of
North America
• Mediterranean climate (foggy!)
• Peninsula and superb harbor
1769
• Outpost of Spain; in New
Spain/Mexico; in Alta California
• Primary political relationships:
Monterey; Mexico City; Madrid
• Primary trading relationships:
New Spain, Philippines
Today
• In California, USA
• Primary political relationships:
Sacramento; Washington DC
• Primary trading relationships:
Pacific Rim, Global
16
REGIONS: Types of Regions
• What are the distinctive characteristics that
define a place, and that make one place
more (or less) like others?
• Important Concepts
•Types of Regions:
• Formal (defined using uniform, homogenous, or dominant characteristics)
• Functional (defined using communication
or transportation systems or functions)
• Vernacular (defined by people’s cultural
identity or beliefs)
17
Regions: Formal, Functional,
Vernacular
US TV
Markets
18
REGIONS: Cultural Ecology
• Human-Environment Interaction
• The environment can limit human activity.
• BUT – does the environment make people
behave and develop in certain ways?
• Environmental determinism: culture is
mostly determined by the physical
environment.
• Possibilism: the environment imposes
some limits, but people can adapt and
adjust their culture to their environment.
19
REGIONS: Modifying the
Environment
Sources: http://www.planetware.com/map/netherlands-land-reclamation-on-the-north-sea-coast-map-nl-nl2.htm;
http://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2012/08/17/drought-keeps-oklahoma-pilot-grounded/
20
SCALE: Local to Global
• Some things work differently, and have different effects at
different scales.
• Globalization of Economy:
• At the global scale, we are increasingly interconnected and
interdependent.
• At the local scale, this has lead to increasing specialization –
places focus on their unique assets (if they have any).
• Globalization of Culture:
• At the global scale, we are becoming more culturally uniform
– fast food, hotels, cars, cell phones, are pretty much the same
over much of the world.
• At the local scale, some groups are fighting to retain their
local culture – sometimes violently.
21
SPACE: Distribution (arrangement of things across
space)
• How are things arranged?
• Where are they located?
• Important Concepts:
• DENSITY
• CONCENTRATION
• PATTERN
22
DISTRIBUTION (arrangement of things across space)
:Density and Concentration
• Density:
“How many per?”
• Concentration:
“How spread out?”
• Major League Baseball
1952
• Density
• 1952: 16 teams
• 2012: 30 teams
• Concentration
• 1952: All Eastern US
2012
• 2012: Most regions of the US
and in Canada
23
DISTRIBUTION: Patterns
West Nile Virus, 2012
Oils seeps & tarballs along
the California coast
Created using Google Earth; data source: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/seeps/where.html;
http://diseasemaps.usgs.gov/wnv_us_human.html
24
• How are places and regions connected?
How do they interact?
• Important Concepts:
• SPATIAL INTERACTION
• Networks, transportation systems, distance decay
(the further away someone is, the less likely the interaction)
• Cultural diversity
• Space-time compression (reduction of time it takes for
something to reach another)
• DIFFUSION
• Relocation Diffusion (process by which things spread out,
hearth is the origination)
• Expansion Diffusion (additive process)

Hierarchical (through a social or physical hierarchy)

Contagious (from person to person)

Stimulus (spread of an underlying idea)
25
CONNECTIONS: Spatial
Interaction
US Airways route map
AMTRAK route map
Sources: http://www.aviationexplorer.com/us_airways_airlines.htm; http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/948/674/System0211_101web,0.pdf
26
CONNECTIONS: Diffusion
• Relocation diffusion
• Physical movement, across space
– people migrate, taking their
culture with them.
• Expansion diffusion
• Ideas spread through a population.
• Hierarchical –
spreading through a
hierarchy of people or
places.
• Contagious –
spreading through
contact, like a disease,
from person to
person.
• Stimulus – spread of
an underlying idea,
even when the actual
idea doesn’t diffuse.
27
Maps & Mapmaking
•
All maps are made for a specific purpose.
•
Although they’re not always labeled, all maps
have four characteristics:
• Scale — the relationship between distance on
the map and distance on the ground.
• Projection — a way of showing the round earth
on a flat map.
• Symbols — arbitrary shapes, colors or patterns
that make distributions or arrangements clear.
• Grid system — a system of coordinates; a way
of determining a place’s location.
28
Map Scale
• Scale can be expressed in three ways:
• Verbal – “One inch equals one mile.”
• Fraction – “1:63,360”
• Graphic –
• Each has advantages and disadvantages.
29
San Diego at Four Scales
1:25,000
1:50,000
1:100,000
1:250,000
30
large
& SMALL
“Large
Scale”
1:25,000
1:50,000
“Small
Scale”
1:100,000
Remember — these are fractions!
1:250,000
31
The Problem of Projection
• The Problem: You can’t go from round
to flat without something being
distorted!
• Every flat map is distorted in some way
—but we can choose the kind of
distortion.
• Shape
• Area
• Distance
• Direction
Robinson map projection
Topographical map
Thematic maps
Cartogram map
Geographical
Information
Systems
38
Symbols
• A variety of symbols are used on maps.
• There are basically four kinds of symbols:
• Pictures:
• Dots:
• Colors & Patterns:
• Lines: ——— --------- ==========
39
Symbols: Pictures
Mineral Production Sites
in the Salt Lake Region
Pictures — either
representative
images or arbitrary
shapes — can be an
effective way of
showing where
things are located on
a map.
Note how important
the legend is.
Without one, the
symbols would be
meaningless.
Produced online, using the National Atlas of the USA
Source: http://nationalatlas.gov/
40
Symbols: Dots
Dots — plain,
colored, or
varying in size or
shape — are
another effective
way of showing
distributions.
Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/
41
Symbols: Color & Shading
This is a shaded relief
map — a map in which
elevation is indicated
using colors.
Like all map symbols,
color is useful — but if
you don’t know what the
colors actually mean, a
map like this can be very
misleading.
This map was produced using ICEMAPS2 online:
http://icemaps.des.ucdavis.edu/icemaps2/ICEMapInit.html
42
Symbols: Isolines
Twelve Month Average Temperatures,
January-December 2010
Isolines are lines that
connect points on a map
with equal values.
The name of the isoline
varies depending on what
you’re mapping:
TEMPERATURE –
isotherms
ºF
AIR PRESSURE –
isobars
ELEVATION – contour
lines
Adapted from:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/us_12-month_avgt.html
43
Symbols: Colors
There are many ways to
vs. Lines
show data on a map.
Sometimes colors and
shading patterns are
effective.
Shaded relief
Contour lines
At other times, using various
kinds of line symbols may be
a better choice.
Consider these maps of San
Diego bay. Which is easiest
to understand at a glance?
Which is probably best if you
need to know an exact
elevation?
These maps were produced using Global Mapper (www.globalmapper.com)
and digital elevation models from http://www.gisdatadepot.com/
44
Grid Systems
• Cartesian coordinates
(named for French
philosopher and
mathematician René
Descartes (15961650)) are an example
of a grid or coordinate system.
• Using the horizontal
(“x”) axis and vertical
(“y”) axis, we can
specify the position of
any object.
3, 90
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1, 21
4, 21
2, 28
0
1
2
3
4
5
45
Grid Systems:
Latitude & Longitude
• Using parallels of latitude we
determine the angular distance (in
degrees) north or south of the
equator, from 0º to 90º North or
South
• Using meridians of longitude we
determine the angular distance (in
degrees) east or west of the
prime meridian, from 0º to 180º
East or West
important lines of longitude
Prime Meridian: 0 degrees (runs through
Greenwich, England)
International Dateline: 180 degrees
Time Zones: every 15 degrees of longitude
equals one hour
48
FIGURE 1-11 TIME ZONES The United States and Canada share four standard time zones:
• Eastern, near 75° west, is 5 hours earlier than GMT.
• Central, near 90° west, is 6 hours earlier than GMT.
• Mountain, near 105° west, is 7 hours earlier than GMT.
• Pacific, near 120° west, is 8 hours earlier than GMT.
The United States has two additional standard time zones:
• Alaska, near 135° west, is 9 hours earlier than GMT.
• Hawaii-Aleutian, near 150° west, is 10 hours earlier than GMT.
Canada has two additional standard time zones:
• Atlantic, near 60° west, is 4 hours earlier than GMT.
• Newfoundland is 3½ hours earlier than GMT; the residents of Newfoundland assert that
their island, which lies between 53° and 59° west longitude, would face dark winter
afternoons if it were in the Atlantic Time Zone and dark winter mornings if it were 3 hours
earlier than GMT.
50
Other Grids
• There are a number of other grid
systems in use that you may
encounter:
• Township & Range
• Used in most of the US
for land surveys
• Divides land into 36 mi2
“townships”
Sources: http://gis.pima.gov/survey/; http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1395/report.pdf;
http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs07701.html;
51
The “All-Purpose” Map
• All maps are made for a
specific purpose — to show
things the map maker thinks
are interesting or worthwhile.
• “All-purpose” or “general use”
maps are also made for a
specific purpose — to be
useful to the widest possible
number of users.
• To do this, general purpose
maps have to include a lot of
information. To do that they
use a lot of different symbols
— colors, lines, pictures, etc.
http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/images/mapsshow4_topo.jpg
52
Is this a map?
•
No!
•
This is a NASA Space
Shuttle photograph
(taken October 3, 1994).
•
This is an example of
remote sensing. Data
acquired from orbit can be
used to study changes in
land use, population
growth, or other
phenomena.
•
But a photograph is not
a map — the image is not
projected, the scale may
vary from top to bottom or
side to side, there is no
legend, etc.
Source: http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS068&roll=202&frame=17
53
GPS
•The Global Positioning
System in use today lets
people accurately find
their location just about
anywhere on the face of
the earth.
•GPS is everywhere – in
cars, in scientific
experiments, in cell
phones.
Contemporary Tools
Pinpointing Locations: GPS
Global Positioning System (GPS)
System that accurately determines the precise position of
something on Earth
GPS in the U.S. includes three elements
1.
Satellites placed in predetermined orbits
2.
Tracking stations to monitor and control satellites
3.
Receiver that can locate at least four satellites, figure out
its distance from each, and use the information to
calculate its precise location
Applications

Turn-By-Turn directions in vehicles

Navigational aid to pilots and ship captains

Provide location for social media applications in a
smartphone
55
Geographic Information Systems
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a
computer-based system for acquiring,
analyzing, processing, and displaying spatial
data — that is, information such as location
(where a particular point is located) and
various characteristics (for example,
elevation, vegetation, population, hydrology,
slope, etc.).
Using a GIS, we can analyze and display an
enormous amount of information — we can
produce new and better maps.
56
Using a GIS
•
A GIS can be used for a wide range of applications
— urban planning, emergency response systems,
resource management, etc.
•
Using a GIS it is possible to
• Produce maps using whatever scales,
projections, symbols or color schemes best
display the information.
• Store, retrieve and analyze the data associated
with various locations
• Model and analyze site characteristics.
57
GIS Example:
Timber Harvest
for Kachemac Bay
•
The following variables were used
to produce this analysis:
• land-cover classification
• site harvest history
• infestation by spruce bark
beetles
• proximity to existing roads
• proximity to power lines
• percent slope
• slope aspect (orientation)
• proximity to anadromous
streams
• concentration of bear and
moose
• designated wetland areas
• land use
• land ownership
Source: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/lcr/kachemak/html/gishtml/forharmo.htm
59
Mathematical Models:
Climate model, showing
Examples
possible future changes.
Simulation of earth’s
magnetic field over a
period of 80,000 years.
Etiological model of a
chronic disease.
http://www.psc.edu/research/graphics/gallery/geodynamo.html;
http://www.nersc.gov/research/annrep00/sh_BER_10.html; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17119217
Why Are Some Human Actions
Not Sustainable?
Sustainability and Resources
Geographers observe two major misuses of resources:
Humans deplete nonrenewable resources.
Humans destroyed otherwise renewable resources through
pollution of air, water, and soil.
Three Pillars of Sustainability
1. Environment Pillar
Sustainable development can only exist if conservation is
embraced more fully than wasting resources or preservation

of all resources.
Preservation (nature not for human use) vs.
Conservation (use with moderation)

Why Are Some Human Actions
Not Sustainable?
Sustainability and Resources
Three Pillars of Sustainability
2. Economy Pillar
Efforts to set prices of commodities and
goods based not only on supply and
demand but also on costs to the
environment.

3. Society Pillar
Modifying the wants of cultures in regards
to shelter, food, and clothing to objects that
are sustainable

Why Are Some Human Actions
Not Sustainable?
Earth’s Physical Systems
Geographers classify natural resources as part of four interrelated
symptoms.
Abiotic system is one composed of nonliving or inorganic matter.

Atmosphere: thin layer of gas surrounding Earth

Hydrosphere: all water on and near Earth’s surface

Lithosphere: Earth’s crust and layer just below the crust
Biotic system is one composed of living organisms.

Biosphere: all living organisms on Earth
Why Are Some Human Actions
Not Sustainable?
Interactions in the Biosphere
People are now the most important agents of change on Earth.
Human modification of the abiotic systems has ongoing
ramifications.
Examples
Atmosphere contains pollutants, humans have trouble
breathing.


Without water, humans waste away and die.
Excessive extraction of resources from lithosphere limits
availability of materials for building and fuel for energy.

Excessive erosion or depletion of nutrients limits
biosphere’s ability to provide food for humans.

Why Are Some Human Actions
Not Sustainable?
Modifying the Environment
Few ecosystems have been as thoroughly modified as those of the
Netherlands and Florida.
Netherlands
Much of the Netherlands would be underwater, if it weren’t
for polders- a piece of land that is created by draining water
from an area.

Dutch have become world leaders in reducing the causes of
global warming and industrial pollution.

Florida
Unsustainable modifications made to ecosystem, as a result
of draining portions of the Everglades and water pollution
from cattle grazing
